WHO Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research Report of the Ninth Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, 29-30 November 2007

Geneva, Switzerland, 29-30 November 2007

WHO/HSE/EPR/2008.1

1. Introduction 2. Report from the WHO Secretariat3. Update on research proposals submitted to WHO4. Update on variola virus strains held in the USA repository5. Update on variola virus strains in the Russian collection6. Conservation of DNA and study of molecular evolution of variola virus7. Review of the records which accompanied the the variola virus seeds comprised in the reference collection8. Refinement of primate models using variola to facilitate acceptance of countermeasures for smallpox9. ST-246: drug development and human clinical safety studies10. ST-246:animal efficacy studies11. The critical role of of the viral TNF receptor in mousepox12. Human B cell responses following smallpox vaccination13. Immunogenicity studies of candidate DNA vaccines based on variola virus genes14. Efficacy of MVA and Dryvax vaccines to induce variola virus neutralizing antibodies15. Update on the attenuated MVA vaccine16. Epidemiology and non-clinical/clinical evaluation of the LC16m8 vaccine17. Regulatory issues about lincensing 3rd generation vaccines18. Preliminary characterization of a collection of monoclonal antibodies generated against expressed vaccinia virus proteins, and their recognition of variola virus19. Use of VIG, cidofovir and ST-246 in the treatment of a severe case of eczema vaccinatum20.Preliminary results from the study of natural history of human monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo21. Composition of the Scientific Sub-Committee for the evaluation of research proposals22. Review of the research work done by laboratories that have obtained limited regions of variola virus DNA with WHO approval23. Variola virus DNA: third party transfers24. Information on the operational procedures for the release of the WHO vaccine stockpile and operational aspects for the establishment of regional surge diagnostic capacity